If you're like me, and most people I know, you probably skim through the names without much thought (unless you're pregnant and searching for a name for your baby, but most likley find more to cross off your list than to add to it). At best, you might skim through the names as fast as possible, just so you can give yourself credit for reading the chapter and feel good about checking the box on your reading schedule.
This morning at church, however, our pastor took time to pause and have us understand why a list of names in Ezra was so significant and revealed a profound truth for us to hold onto all these thousands of years later. If you want to check out all the 42,360 people mentioned in Ezra 2, feel free to check it out for yourself. The point wasn't really in the names themselves so much as in what we learn from the fact that God included their names in His divinely inspired Word.
Our pastor actually highlighted 3 principles for us to remember, and I'm going to share the first 2 with you today. Even more importantly, though, is getting these truths from our head to our heart, truly believing them and then living them out CONFIDENTLY in our daily lives.
1. You are important to God. He loves you, no matter your status.
You are formed with INTENT.
You are NOT a mistake.
You are NOT a surprise.
You were made on purpose, for a purpose.
Which leads us to the next principle...
2. Each person has a role to play, a unique calling for which God has created him/her.
You are God's workmanship. He took His time to craft and shape and mold you exactly the way He wanted. He has given you talents and abilities, gifts and interests, a personality and character traits that ONLY YOU have. NO ONE ELSE is like you. And that is a GOOD thing. We are each needed. Every single one of us. We each have a role to play, and without all of us working together, doing our special part, NONE of us can be who we are truly called and created to be. We NEED each other.
We need to STOP COMPARING ourselves to others.
We need to STOP thinking someone else is better, prettier, smarter, faster, more talented, or whatever other ways we try to measure up to the people we know.
We need to STOP letting fear and worry and doubt keep us from being who God has made us to be.
Instead, we need to ACCEPT who we are and appreciate how God made us, realizing we are special and unique on purpose. Then, we need to be CONFIDENT in the way we have been created, boldly living out the calling God has for us. As we do, we fulfill the good works God prepared for us before the world even began. We help others become who God made them to be. We celebrate with each other. We support and encourage one another. We build each other up. We grow and learn together. And as we do, we make the world a better place.
Here's the deal, you may not recognize at the time how God is using you. You may not understand what He's doing. You may not see how in the world He is going to take what is happening in your life right now to make a difference, to impact someone's life, to change the world. BUT, I assure you, He IS using you. He DOES have a plan. He DOES have a purpose. And it's CERTAINLY for YOUR good and HIS glory!
Maybe you are feeling like the Israelites were when God spoke this amazing promise to the prophet Jeremiah. They were in the midst of a 70 YEAR exile. They had been taken from their homes and transported to Babylon. Everything they knew was gone. They were scared and confused. Probably a bit upset too. I know I would have been...
YET, God has NOT abandoned them or forsaken them.
He has NOT forgotten His promise.
He IS with them and working everything out for their good (see Romans 8 for more on that).
This morning we sang a song about Jesus being a thief on Friday, crucified, DEAD and buried.
You would think all hope was lost.
Our supposed Savior was proven false.
Our Messiah didn't come through, but gave up His Spirit.
How can a dead man save anyone?!
Even the disciples, who walked and talked and lived with Jesus day in and day out for THREE YEARS seemed to have forgotten His promise to rise on the third day.
I fear we too have made the same mistake all these thousands of years later.
We let Satan blind us to the truth.
We let sin paralyze us.
We forget Jesus didn't stay in the tomb.
We focus on Friday afternoon instead of celebrating Sunday morning.
The song goes on to tell us Jesus was a King on Sunday, for up from the grave He arose.
Victorious.
Triumphant.
And as followers of Jesus, that same power is at work in and through us today.
Sin has NO POWER over us. NONE.
Unless we let it...
Which is exactly what we do when we doubt we are important, when we compare ourselves to others and feel we come up short, when we fear what others think, when we stay quiet or play it safe instead of stepping out and rising up and doing what God has called us to do and being who God has created us to be.
May we look back at Paul's letter to the Romans and focus on his message in chapter 6:
We are FREE!!!!
And we have been set free to live for God.
To carry out the good works He prepared in advance for us to do.
I don't know what those good ideas and acts are that God is placing on your heart.
I don't know where you are at in life today - in exile, in the wilderness, or on the edge of the Promised Land.
I DO know God is at work.
I believe with all my heart God loves you.
I promise you He has a plan and purpose for your life.
And I am confident that if you TRUST Him and follow the path He sets before you, He will guide you every step of the way (usually one step at a time). He WILL provide ALL you need to do His will, to fulfill the plans He has for you, and to use you to change the world.
Let's take one last look back at the names in Ezra 2. If you're like me, you probably missed what our pastor pointed out today. Zerubabbel...
He was there leading the Israelites back to their homeland to rebuild the temple. As he collected materials and helped lay bricks, Zerubabbel didn't realize that his role was MUCH bigger in building the kingdom of God. Little did he know, he would one day be a great great great great great great... grandfather to JESUS.
But there he is...
Our pastor's main point - you never know how God will use you, or your kids, or your grandkids.
The same is definitely true for women who change diapers! :)
Your life DOES matter.
HOW you live matters too.
You ARE part of God's plan.
You are a SPECIAL EDITION, one of a kind.
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| If you have never read this book, read it today!!! Seriously... |
CONFIDENTLY live this out.
Starting NOW...
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